Kamloops Fire Rescue responded just before 3 p.m. to the rapidly spreading, northbound fire that sparked on a hillside near the property and Tranquille Creek.

KFR platoon Capt. Darryl Cooper said one crew went up Tranquille Road to attack the blaze from its northern flank, while other firefighters used hose lines off a water tender to stop the fire from spreading east.

The BC Wildfire Service followed with a 10-person crew and the blaze was extinguished and guarded before KFR left the scene at about 5:30 p.m. There were no reported injuries.

Cooper said KFR returned Tuesday to monitor for hot spots.

Fire investigators were also deployed to the scene on Tuesday, but the fire’s cause remains undetermined as of Tuesday morning.

The BC Wildfire Service lists the fire on its website as 1.8 hectares — about 4.5 acres in size — and as being person-caused, which is typically a default listing immediately following a wildfire when there is no apparent lightning strike in the area.

Cooper pointed out people enjoy walking in the Tranquille Creek area and listed cigarette butts and campfires as the usual suspects in grassfire causes.

The fire started less than an hour after the provincial government announced Forests Minister Doug Donaldson would be coming to Kamloops to announce preparations for the 2019 wildfire season.

Donaldson was at the provincial Wildfire Coordination Centre at Kamloops Airport on Tuesday to talk about plans for the upcoming wildfire season.

The past two years — 2018 and 2017 — led to record-setting fire seasons. In 2018, more than 13,000 square kilometres of terrain burned; in 2017, more than 12,000 square kilometres of land was torched.